Super Woman Wealth: How to Become Your Own Financial Hero

By Regina McCann Hess

Women face unique challenges when it comes to managing finances.

 

Society tells us we should be caregivers who put everyone in our families before ourselves, including financially. Data shows women tend to live longer than men, meaning we need more money during retirement, but we tend to earn and save less because of our role in child rearing and caring for older family members. As a result, many women feel overwhelmed by financial planning and avoid the conversation altogether.

 

Super Woman Wealth is a guide to empower professional women to take an active role in their finances. It addresses women’s unique relationships with money and offers practical advice on becoming more comfortable with financial planning and management. Ladies, it’s time to learn how to nurture our money, protect our wealth, and take control of our financial future.

 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Greenleaf Book Group
• Release date: Mar 19, 2024
• ISBN: 9798886451634

Book preview

INTRODUCTION

WOMEN ARE INCREDIBLE.

We are strong, empowering, emotional, loving, and fierce. We are nurturers and natural caregivers. We are resourceful, adaptable, and resilient. We possess the sixth sense of female intuition (which is often right!). We have compassion, are excellent listeners, and make effective leaders. We are mothers, executives, and CEOs. We can organize a household and a family, and still manage to work full-time. Simply put, we are remarkable!

Despite these almost superhuman abilities, many women do not know how to appropriately plan for their financial future. They lack the confidence to do so, often leaving money matters to others—whether that is their parents or their spouses.

I wrote this book to change that.

I want women to stop outsourcing power over their own wealth. I want them to have the confidence to take control of their financial future. I want them to play a bigger (and more active) role in money management, regardless of if they are married, single, divorced, or widowed.

Clearly, this is something you want, too, since you are reading this book.

You might feel overwhelmed when it comes to wealth management—and I do not blame you! It is overwhelming. You may feel as though you should be better with your finances—you are, after all, a successful woman in every other aspect of your life—but you just do not know where to start. I get it. It is a lot.

And it is not your fault! We were never taught how to manage our finances. We were never taught about retirement plans, investment strategies, and how to preserve our wealth. We might have even been told at some point not to worry our pretty little heads about money. On top of that, as natural caregivers, we tend to take care of everyone around us first, putting ourselves last—and when we do get some me-time, managing our finances is toward the bottom of the list.

But here is the thing: Women cannot afford to ignore their financial future. We already know there is a significant wealth gap between men and women—and I am not even talking about the pay gap (which is a topic for another book!). I am referring to the other unique challenges women face in their lifetimes that directly impact reaching their financial goals.

What do you mean, Regina? you may be asking yourself.

Well, on average, women save less than men because we take time off for child rearing. Although maternity leave is important to bond with your child, you are missing out on collecting a paycheck, which means you are missing out on contributing to your retirement accounts. This may mean we are missing out anywhere from a few months to a few years (even a few decades!) of savings.

Then later in our lifetime, we are the ones who take time off to take care of our aging parents (and other relatives), cutting even more from our savings.

On top of that, women also tend to live longer than men, so we need more money during retirement. The cost of healthcare is only going to get more expensive in the future, adding another layer to consider when planning for retirement.

Although some of us may be contributing to our company’s 401(k), that alone is not enough these days. Because we are never taught how to manage our finances, we often leave everything to someone else—usually our daddies or spouses. Although this may work for a while (even decades), when the unfortunate reality of death rears its head, women are often left in an even worse situation.

And although we never plan for divorce, it does happen, and things get even more complicated if you have not taken an active role in your personal finances.

After twenty-five years in wealth management, and after seeing countless women navigate choppy financial situations, I wrote this book to teach women how to nurture their money, preserve their wealth, and take control of their financial future.

My hope is to inject you with confidence to take rightful command over your wealth and become your own financial hero.

WHAT YOU WILL LEARN

Developing your financial superpowers begins with owning your relationship with money. Money is a taboo topic for many women, but it should not be. In the pages that follow, we will discover your financial mindset and get you to understand your relationship with money so you can adequately plan for your future. We will then talk about reprogramming any habits or patterns that do not suit you anymore.

You will also learn about the power of a financial plan because you never know what will happen in life, and having a financial plan could save you (and others) from many potential headaches.

A woman’s needs are different from a man’s, and as such, we will address the unique challenges women face and how to conquer them as you work toward financial confidence. We will also talk about what you need to know during major life transitions, like remarriage, children, divorce, and death.

We will question the conventional wisdom currently out there and explore whether certain retirement strategies are appropriate for you. You will also learn how to properly transfer your wealth, so it can last a long time after you are gone.

Women are more philanthropic than men, so we will explore the different ways you can give throughout each stage of your financial planning. And finally, I will teach you how to protect your estate and how to control your money from the grave.

Most importantly, I want to normalize talking about money matters—I promise it is not as intimidating as you think!

MY BACKGROUND

My dad walked out the door when I was in the third grade, leaving my mother to raise five kids by herself. I was eight and my brothers were twelve, thirteen, fourteen, and fifteen.

To make matters worse, my mother had limited work experience, and it was tough for her to find a job. She eventually was hired as an administrative assistant for a hospital and then later at a college, but her salary was never enough.

My mother made sure we had a roof over our heads and food to eat, but there was not much for any extras. If we wanted a soda at school, for example, that was on us. She did, however, value education, so she saved all she could to make sure we attended a good school. Public schools in Philadelphia at the time were not the greatest, nor were they safe, so my mom enrolled us in a Catholic school. Although it did not cost as much as a private school, it was still a huge investment for my mom.

Mom did what she needed to do to make sure her kids got a quality education. I will always admire her for that.

Since money was tight, my brothers and I found ways to earn money from an early age. In fact, if it were not for my brothers, I am not sure we would have survived. Since they were much older, they immediately found ways to make money to help Mom out.

I was in the seventh grade when I first started working small jobs here and there, like working a paper route or helping at a local candy store. Although growing up poor had its challenges, I am grateful for the experience because it taught me valuable lessons at a young age—lessons in work ethic, the value of the dollar, and how to manage my money. Not only did I get to buy that soda at school if I wanted to, but I also helped my mom and contributed to my school tuition.

After high school, I pursued a career in nursing. I wanted to break the cycle and not be poor for the rest of my life. I did not want to continue simply surviving. I was driven to create a different story for myself—a new life. Mom could not afford to save money for a college fund, so I was on my own. I funded college by working full-time and taking out a couple of loans.

Once I graduated with a nursing degree, I worked as a critical care nurse in a hospital downtown. It should be no surprise that I am conservative when it comes to money. I also hate debt. I do not like it hanging over my head, so when I graduated, that became goal number one: to pay back my student loans. Since I lived at home with my mother at the time and I drove a used car, I was able to pay them back within two to three years.

As a graduation gift, Michael, a father figure and very dear friend of mine who has since passed, gave me an unconventional graduation gift. Congratulations, Regina, I will buy you stock in any company you want, but you need to do the research yourself and tell me the reasons why you want to own this company.

A stock? I responded. What a strange gift, I thought. The stock market was foreign to me. I had spent the last few years taking science, biology, physiology, and anatomy courses, not business ones. Why would he gift me a stock? The stock market was something I viewed as out of my league, something for rich people, not for someone who grew up in a poor community, barely making ends meet.

But I was not one to shy away from a new challenge. Intrigued, I did what he asked and started researching companies. Since I worked in healthcare, I started with companies in the medical and pharmaceutical industries. As I researched companies, learning about their values and how they made money, I found myself really enjoying the process.

After a few weeks, I found the company I wanted to be an owner of: Bristol Myers Squibb. I told Michael I wanted to have ownership in this company because I was familiar with their products and their purpose. As a nurse, I saw products around the hospital, so I understood what they did, how they did it, and how they profited.

Satisfied with my choice and reasoning, he called his stockbroker, opened an account in my name, and bought me a handful of shares.

The experience sparked something inside of me. Within a few short months, I saw my shares increase in value—which was obviously exciting for someone with my upbringing. I was intensely attracted to the idea of my money working for me; I wanted to learn more. To satisfy my curiosity, I went back to school to take classes related to finance, stocks, and business (all while still working as a nurse).

Michael, you have created a monster! I joked with him a year or so after that initial purchase.

Good, he said. That was the point.

He must have seen something in me that I did not at the time, and that is why he gifted me a stock—to widen my horizon when it came to money and creating wealth.

Although I loved working as a nurse, things started to change over the years. We started losing some of our benefits, and I was not fond of the trajectory of the quality of care the hospital administrators were implementing. Empowered by my newfound financial chops, I decided to change my career and become a financial advisor.

I signed up for Merrill Lynch’s training program and after twenty-five years, I have not looked back—despite some rocky patches along the way.

After the training program, through sheer grit and determination, I built a solid book of business on my own. I did not have any connections in the business. I did not have family money. Heck, I did not even know anyone with money. And to top things off, I was a woman in a male-dominated industry.

All I knew was that I was not going to fail.

I earned my CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ (CFP®) designation—which is no walk in the park. In addition, I also earned my CERTIFIED DIVORCE FINANCIAL ANALYST® (CDFA®) designation, allowing me to work with people going through a divorce (because that takes a different type of planning altogether).

In 2009, after the financial crash happened, I started to work for a big company (that shall remain nameless). Unfortunately, my experience there was disheartening, to say the least. I did not like how they treated their employees or clients. I hated going to work every day. To put it bluntly, our values did not align. In 2015, I decided to leave and start my own firm to do what was best for my clients (and to save my sanity), and that is how Forge Wealth Management came to be.

Despite the uncertainty of starting my own business, it was the best decision. I am proud to say that Forge Wealth Management puts our clients’ needs above anything else. We take a custom-tailored approach to each individual, no matter what. I call our clients our Forge Wealth Family, because that is exactly what they become: family.

Although I still hold nursing dear to my heart, helping people plan for their future became my passion. I went from taking care of people’s physical health as a nurse to now taking care of their financial health.

I am still a caretaker, and I am still holding your hand, but in a different way.

EMPOWERING WOMEN

After witnessing what happened to my mom and working with women in unfortunate financial predicaments over the past twenty-five years, it became important for me to educate as many women as possible so they can live comfortably no matter what life throws at them.

After I graduated with a nursing degree, my mother pursued one for herself and worked as a nurse for about twenty years. During this time, she saved money in her 403(b). Upon retirement, in addition to her Social Security, she was lucky enough to get a pension. Despite her rather unfortunate circumstances, my mother persevered, made good financial decisions, and today has a comfortable retirement. I had an excellent role model.

I want the same for you, regardless of your circumstances.

I wrote this book because I want to encourage women to think more about their finances. I want them to have a bigger seat at the table when it comes to their wealth. I want to educate them, so they are not left in the dark when they have to handle their finances.

I want to empower women to plan and prepare as much as they possibly can. Many of us have been taught to defer to some authority figure to manage our wealth, but as women we are more than capable of taking command. As you will learn from this book, superpower wealth is rooted in confident, educated financial planning.

But first, you must understand your relationship with money, which we will dive into in the next chapter, before you can adequately plan for your future. The better you understand your mindset, the better decisions you will make to set yourself up for success.

Let us dive in!

CHAPTER 1

MONEY MINDSET

Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.

—CARL JUNG

WE MAY OR MAY NOT REALIZE IT, but many of us harbor fears about money management. We think finances are too complicated, that we will mess it all up somehow.

It is no wonder that, as women, we are skittish. When I was growing up, children were to be seen and not heard, and money was a matter managed mostly by men, the breadwinners. Parents rarely discussed finances around children or encouraged questions about basic economic concepts. In fact, men seldom even shared family finances with their wives.

Girls in my generation watched our